Loading Screen Runes

At the beginning of the game you're shown a strange interactive loading screen with runes.
You need to mash buttons on your controller to make the runes go away. The shoulder buttons,
face buttons and D-pad buttons all work to eliminate the runes. Once you eliminate all the runes,
the game will begin. This loading screen shows up throughout the game if you die, and possibly at
other times. It is actually a kind of a tutorial. Later in the game, if you are captured by enemies
they will shoot these runes, and you will escape by mashing these buttons quickly to eliminate the
runes, just like the loading screens.

The Beginning

Hint 1
“Be among the chosen ones...”
In my dream, I was flying. Flying through the darkness...

Press the stick in any direction to wake up.

Hint 2
I awoke to find myself in a strange cave.

Press stick again to get up.

Hint 3
I noticed with a start that I was not alone.
Beside me lay a great man-eating beast-- “Trico.”
I did not know how, why, or when it had happened--
but my skin was covered with peculiar markings.
Where...?
Where am I...?

The beast awakes with a start, frightening you. You can now move around.

Hint 4
I thought that I was still dreaming...
I believed that I would soon wake...

Use to move and to rotate the camera. Doing these things will make the prompts go away.

The beast is a Trico. That's what he is, not who he is. But no name is ever given for him,
so I will simply refer to him as Trico - like everybody else.

Hint 5
The beast was far from happy.
It seemed greatly pained by the spears that pierced its flesh.

Trico has a large chain attached to a collar around his neck, and two spears sticking out of him.
You cannot reach the collar, or the spear in his shoulder - he will shake you off with his wings,
knocking you to the ground - but you can approach the spear in his hind leg.

Hint 6
I decided to help it. To try to pull the spears from its flesh...

Hint 7
In its pain, the poor beast was wary.
I felt that my best option would be to withdraw and reconsider.

Hint 8
The beast was highly agitated. It seemed unwise to approach.
I decided it best to withdraw and consider my options.

Hint 9
The beast seemed more than a little wary of me.
I decided it best to withdraw and consider my options.

Move to Trico's hind leg and press to jump, and you will automatically grab on to Trico and start climbing him.
Move toward the spear, and press to grab onto it, then hold to remove the spear.

As Trico struggles in pain he kicks you against a wall, knocking you out.

You awake at night.

Hint 10
I wondered if the beast might be hungering for something...

Hint 11
It was wary and would not allow me to approach the spear.

Trico still will not allow you to approach the spear in his shoulder.

Hint 12
Are you...hungry?
I suspected that the great beast had not eaten in some time.

Hint 13
It was staring longingly at a nearby barrel...

Balancing Barrels

This is the ideal place to earn the silver trophy, Balancing Barrels. It's not something you'd normally ever do - but once you know what you need to do,
this isn't a particularly tough trophy.

To earn this trophy you need 2 barrels at the same time. There are 3 in this area. Carefully sit a barrel down on a flat surface with . Then pick another
barrel up, move so the barrel is on top of the first barrel, and sit it down with as well. It may take a few attempts to get the barrels stacked on top
of each other.

Once you have two barrels stacked on top of each other, don't move. Press again and you'll pick the barrels up by the bottom barrel. Then you just
need to walk very slowly, by only pressing lightly on until you get the trophy.

To say that I grew adept at balancing barrels would be something of an understatement.

On the other side of the room, there are some stone structures. On these structures there are three barrels you can feed to Trico.
You'll have to feed him all three barrels before he will trust you enough to allow you to remove the second spear.

Go to the right side of the structure. Go up the stairs and then press to jump next to the edge and you will automatically grab the ledge above you.
Press to climb up the ledge.

Go to
barrel 1 and press to pick it up. You can press to throw the barrel,
or walk to the edge and press to drop it
over the edge to the ground, or you can just walk off the edge and you'll drop it as you fall. Pick the barrel up again and move it over and place it near Trico.

Lock, Stock, and Barrel

This is the first of 48 barrels in the game. If you collect all 48 and feed them to Trico, you'll earn the gold trophy, Lock, Stock, and Barrel.
You can collect the barrels over multiple playthroughs if you need - but you must find each individual barrel. It won't do to feed Trico the
same barrels over and over.

Feeding Trico barrels will also unlock various costumes you can wear in New Game +. You can just feed Trico the same barrels over and over to
unlock these costumes. 96 barrels are required, over as many playthroughs as you need to collect that many, to unlock every costume and option.

I will mark barrels with this formatting in the walkthrough to make them easy to find. Each one will include numbering to show the order I
found them, and to help you keep track of where you're at in your barrel hunting.

Hint 14
The beast seemed reluctant to eat with me so close by...

Trico will not eat the barrel until you move away. You need to get the other barrels anyway. Move back over to the stone structure.
While you're close to him, Trico will concentrate on you, and his eyes will glow to indicate that he's focused on you.
When you move away far enough that his eyes stop glowing, he'll turn his attention to the barrel. As you move away, Trico will eat the barrel whole.

Hint 15
I was a little surprised.
I had not imagined for a moment that the beast could possibly wolf the barrel down whole.
Want some more?

Hint 16
Thinking it's unwise to upset the beast any further, I decided to withdraw.

Return to the stone structure and this time take the stairs on the left. Climb up on the structure on the left like you did before.Barrel 2 is behind a small wall. There's a small hole in the wall. As you approach it, you'll automatically duck down and climb through the hole.
Pick up the barrel and toss it down off the structure as you did before, then take the barrel over and leave it in front of Trico,
then move away again and he will eat the barrel.

Hint 17
I decided to withdraw to a safe distance so that it might enjoy its meal in peace.

Hint 18
I wondered if its hunger might not yet have been satisfied.

Hint 19
I decided to go in search of more barrels.

Barrel 3 is at the ground level behind a gate. There's a lever nearby. Press to grab the lever,
then pull it down with .
This will open the gate. Go inside and pick up the barrel on the shelf and return it to Trico, then move away so he will eat it.

Hint 20
My offerings appeared to have sated the beast's appetite--
but it was still in pain, and could not stand.
Does it still hurt?

Now that Trico's belly is full, he's feeling a little more trusting. Approach him and jump and press to grab onto him and start climbing.
Use to move around on Trico.

Hint 21
The spear in its right shoulder prevented it from standing.

Hint 22
I did my best to remove the spear.

You can remove the spear and the collar in either order. It makes no difference. To remove either one, simply move to it's location,
grab it with , then pull to remove the spear, or unlock the collar. When you remove the spear,
Trico shakes you off, slamming you against the rocks and knocking you out once again.

Hint 23
The beast seemed greatly improved. But it was still unable to move freely--
the enormous collar about its neck saw to that.

Hint 24
I resolved to free the beast.

Hint 25
There. Is that better?

When you wake up the next day Trico seems concerned about you. He obviously wasn't trying to hurt you. You can now call Trico to your position by pressing .

You can actually heal Trico's wounds by petting him. Jump on Trico and climb to the discolored feathers where the spear wounds were, then pet Trico with ,
and it will heal the wounds and return his feathers to their normal color. This isn't a necessary gameplay mechanic. The discolored feathers don't hurt Trico
and don't need to be healed. It's just something you can do if you like.